To: Teacher2Teacher Public DiscussionDate: 2002101012:34:04Subject: Use of Percentage Sign in equation

I was asked by a mother whether a percentage cane be represented in an
equation like the following.
The example here asks:
"A shop keept sells 20% of his orange stock today @ $0.5 each and he
earns $50 today. So how many orange he has in stock when he start
business?"
I was asked whether this is an appropriate formau:
Say y is the original number of oranges
20%y * 0.5 = 50.
I was doubt that notation like "20 % y" means something else in
mathematic world...where the "%" is an operators of special use.
Please help.